The Illinois football coaching staff recruited the state of Texas hard this past week.
There have been multiple scholarship offers from the Illini to the Lone Star State products. Illinois has focused on many different areas in the state of Texas, and one of those areas was defensive end. Alec Bryant announced Friday that he had received one of the Illinois scholarship offers.
Bryant is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound weakside defensive end from Shadow Creek High School in Pearland, Texas. He is rated as a four-star recruit who is the No. 168 player in the class of 2020 and the No. 9 weakside defensive end in the nation. He is also the No. 22 player in the state of Texas as well.
A lot of programs have come in with offers to Bryant so far. In addition to the Illini offer on Friday, he has also had the likes of LSU, Oklahoma and Nebraska come in with offers, to note a few. It will be interesting to see if Illinois can manage to sneak into this talented pass rushers recruitment.
Honestly, I am a little surprised Bryant isn’t ranked higher in the class of 2020. I would assume his height, 6-foot-3, is what is drawing some people away from him as an elite player. Everything I am watching, though, screams elite.
I love the speed Bryant has off the line of scrimmage. He is in the backfield before the offensive lineman can get a hand on him. He has the ability to chase down ball carriers and cause chaos for the quarterback and running back. His type of play reminds me of a Khalil Mack type of player.
When it comes to the defensive end position, Illinois will likely have some playing time available year one and then the job would be Bryant’s by his sophomore season. Every returning Illinois defensive end is at least a sophomore. That means those players would be seniors when Bryant comes into the program. The game plan should be to have Bryant play some year one and then unleash him the following season.
I hope Illinois can get into the Bryant recruitment. This kid has some serious speed on the end of the line. Wherever he goes, he will be difficult to deal with.